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Today Matura-Shepherd held a Press Conference and explained what caused her sudden and unexpected move. She also spoke about her columns in the Amandala about the comparison she made of homosexuality to bestiality and how she was out rightly attacked for having an opinion.

Audrey Matura-Shepherd - Resigns as VP, OCEANA
"I considered giving in my resignation last week about Monday and I felt it in my heart that was what I should do and by Thursday it was clear to me that that was I had to do and I sent in my resignation in a usual professional way and my boss had responded the following day, accepting the resignation and we agreed to this joint statement today. What made me resign? I think that is what everybody wants to know. I think I need to clarify that I was never asked to resign from OCEANA. OCEANA valuse my work deeply and I value the norms and the campaigns that they do but there comes a point in everyone's life where you need to make a personal choice and it was my personal choice to resign. Why? Well for some time I knew I would not always be at OCEANA, I shared that with you every now and then that I knew I wasn't always going to be there. When I was hired at OCEANA it wasn't in my plan to do that kind of work but you go where God leads you so that's where I ended up. I always said that I would have only done 3 years and last year May 1st made three years and I was ready to leave and OCEANA begged me to stay on and renegotiated with me and I think that at that point I knew I was lying to myself because the time had passed. Things had to happen the way they did for me to get the message that it's time to move on. It turned out that earlier this year I had already thought about it that there were things bigger calling for me to do that I have tried to stay away from being a vocal person but clearly it is my calling and I cannnot hide from it anymore. It culminated last two weeks that I did write an article in the newspaper that I do for free and I will never stop writing because I love it. I wrote the article in which the same way there is a group of people calling themselves UNIBAM demanding that there sexual orientation be accepted it is not unlikely that there can be another group calling themselves whatever 'BAM' they want to be also demanding the rights to being with animals. I could go down the list of all the things that are criminalized in this country. I never said it to offend anyone, I never said it because I wanted to enter a debate over the issue. I've always written very provocatively, I never thought that I would be entering this issue but it all had to happen because maybe I was being a coward sitting on the fence and not prepared to take a stance, so it had to happen this way that I was called out to take a stance. It's interesting how it all happened because for me it was just writing another article but for them they made it much more. There are key things that happened that really steered my heart which made me resign and that is, I know I'm very vocal and I stand with what I believe and I'm assertive but when I saw the level of attack and that the lengths they would go to quiet people; I realized it wasn't about sodomy or bestiality - it was about reaching a point in this country where people would not be able to speak openly. I feel that all my life I have fought for other people, you all know me as the member of the press - trailblazing as to what you can say or do on the press and I couldn't see myself in a position where they would hold my organization unfairly at ransom and then I have to be a part of that. It's just not within my principles, it just goes contrary to anything I can ever live by.

So what I did, I deliberated and I noticed what really happened. One of the things that really happened was that it started with Ms. Lisa Shoman first calling me out on Facebook, I had not even seen the post and it didn't even bother me but I was wondering why I was getting a lot of queries. I've never asked Ms. Lisa Shoman if when she goes on Facebook and this recent move against me is her position or the position of the organization who she represents is of UNIBAM - I don't know if she's acting as her personal capacity or her professional capacity; but I won't even go there because that's not how I deal with issues. It started there but after that there was a slew of emails, all of them have not been produced to me that were sent to my organization.

I really applaud OCEANA because they were very professional - at no point did they tell me that I needed to resign. They felt that we could have worked through this and they value my work but I had to think about it. The objective is not so much to destroy the great work that OCEANA has done, all of you know that what OCEANA has done is needed in this country. The objective was to go after me and I realized that if I remained there, the organization no matter what they do will be a target but I am not afraid to stand on this issue alone if I have to. So I made the bold move and said 'I will resign'. My bosses were a bit taken aback because that wasn't what they expected - they expected that 'this too shall pass' but I don't believe that. I have been there, I have seen the level of attack. Let me tell you how low it is, I brought with me and you all could go on OCEANA's Facebook page and read the comment from one Paul Shmidt and Christian Riveroll and they literally say that 'they will call on all the LGBT to come forward and denounce the work of OCEANA' - that is low so if I am the one that they are really after then I don't see why I should stand there and let them attack an organization that is here doing fantastic work. It says right here 'do not ever forget that there are 30,000 LGBT persons living in this country - we have the power to swing a vote where we want, you of all persons should be ashamed of yourself for your remarks, I can no longer support the cause'. It's a sad day in this country when you have to decide on one thing or the other."

Matura's resignation was accepted by Andy Sharpless, the CEO of OCEANA in Belize. His statement was amended to hers and it says

"We will now look for a new leader in Belize. We have big shoes to fill but are confident that we can find a new local leader as smart, brave and determined as Audrey….I, and Oceana's Board of Directors, thank Audrey for her service and wish her continued success as she moves onto the next steps in her remarkable career."